I just got offered a job at Google. The base pay is 19% lower than my current job. The total comp after bonus and GSU is still 7% lower. I think the opportunity to work at Google would be great, but the comp level is disappointing. What should I do?
[This answer is focused on engineering ladder positions, and may be bad advice for non-engineering positions]The single most important part of your offer is the level that you are being hired at. Until your first promotion, all future raises and refreshes will be based on this level. Your initial offer is also based on this level (although there is significant room to adjust within each level).Total Google compensation is, by design, excellent for equivalent positions. It’s not impossible to find positions that pay more than Google, but it is hard.If your current job pays more than Google is offering, you are probably a reasonable candidate for a Google position that is one level higher.The recruiter is on your side. He wants to hire you. He is incentivized to hire you. He is also an expert on the Google hiring process, and has a strong understanding of what is and is not possible.Tell your recruiter that you are disappointed with your offer. Tell him that you think you are further along in your career than the offer suggests. Tell him that you want an offer that is one level higher with a matching base salary and initial equity grant.The recruiter already knows how realistic this is. Listen carefully to what he says about your chances of getting an offer one level higher.Ignore anything the recruiter says about getting promoted quickly. There are all sorts of true (and untrue) things he can say about this that serve no purpose other than to distract you from getting an offer that is one level higher.If the initial offer is lower than T5 [lower than Senior SWE], consider passing on the opportunity unless they slot you appropriately. Google won't stop being interested in you. The next time you interview you can make sure that you are evaluated at an appropriate level. (Also, if this is clearly your attitude, the recruiter will do what he can to get you the level you want right now.)If the initial offer is T5 or higher, getting slotted at a higher level may be unrealistic. Tell the recruiter that this is what you want. But if your goal is to work at Google at some point, be prepared to accept additional compensation instead. Getting new non-managers in at T6 or higher is a major pain and is not realistic for the vast majority of people who get a T5 offer.
How did the "cool kids" from your high school turn out?
Well, I've only been to two highschools. The one I'm currently going to, and one in the U.S.I called a friend to help me out, since I still have a year book, I asked her what happened to these so called “cool kids”, and how they turned out after 3 years.Credit to her for helping.That one guy who bullied everyone:He landed in a jail for beating up a girl last year.The guy who always wanted to fight everyone:Also jail.The one popular girl, who called everyone a slut:She had 12 boyfriends, and has two kids. So who's the slut now?The one fat kid, who was kinda a nerd:He lost weight, and now has a girlfriend.The one girl who everyone kinda liked.She moved back to Russia after the school year.That one slavic foreign smartass guy, who was pretty chill:He does comedy standups for the schools talent show every year, everyone likes him.The guy who everyone bullied:He now plays football, and he's pretty muscular.The guy who people knew, kinda liked who was a dancer:He moved back to Ukraine, but would always dance with this other guy sometimes.The short Mexican kid nobody could understand:He learned English, now plays soccer. Who also has girlfriend.The gangster wannabe guy, who always got into fights:Got changed with assault and shoplifing. He got two years of probation, and three months of jail.The guy who was kinda quiet, funny, who always would dance with the Ukrainian guy:He moved back to Russia with his sister and family. Also is a master in the art of smartassery. (Take a guess who that is.)The nice girl who could beat the hell out of anyone, was close friends with only a few people:She has a job, she volunteers at hospitals, and vets. She also pretty much helped this answer.The small group of Russians:They do the same stuff, just more mature and friendly (Pst remember, this school had a lot of Slavic people in it.)The anorexic girl people bullied:She sadly committed suicide.The one kid who was a greaser.He's a friendly badass. He has a girlfriend too.The girl who plays a lot of instruments.She creates her own music, and she wants to be a music artist..This concludes my list. And thanks to my good ol' comrade for helping out with this answer.
Back hurts, possibly from marching band?
Your back pain is caused by a pinched nerve in your back and some movements are going to make it more painful than others. You can get rid of the pinched nerve by freeing up your back muscles which releases the nerve to get rid of the pain by doing this: Back: (do from a sitting position) Place your left hand on your left leg next to your body. Place your right hand over your left shoulder, fingers over the back and the palm in the front and firmly pull down on them and hold. After 30 seconds slowly lower your body forward and to the outside of your left leg, keeping your left arm fairly straight as you do. When you reach your lap remain there for another 10 seconds, release the pressure but rest there for another 30 seconds. Then reverse your hand positions and do your right side. For best results relax your body first by taking a deep breath and exhaling then remain this relaxed.
Anyone have some tips on marching bass clarinet?
I think for your tone problems, Using a reed that is a little softer (Vandoren 2.5) will help. When I play bass clarinet, I always put the reed a hairline in front of the mouthpiece tip. To fix the airy problem make sure that you have a firm but not tight grip on the mouthpiece. I think that the bass clarinet embouchure is somewhere between the "o" shaped sax embouchure and the clarinet embouchure. For the marching and carrying, I think a good neck strap would help. Or you could spend some money to get the kind that wraps around your back and chest. I think that your bass clarinet should get some repairs. Bass clarinet should get repairs every 6-8 months because they come out of adjustment easily and just a small leak can make it impossible to play anything. Fix the thumb rest also!!!! If you go to the shop, you should buy a new mouthpiece an ligature. I like the Rico Mouthpieces even though a lot of others don't. Long tones in the Throat tone notes of the clarinet are the best because they are the weakest. Also practice high notes so they don't sound ugly on bass clarinet. Pointers: Practice articulation Practice projecting high notes, Low notes are easy to project and are the bass clarinets best friend If you aren't playing but marching on the field with the bass, keep your reed wet. Every so often just kind of take the reed and/or the mouthpiece into your mouth
When starting a band, why is it so hard to find a good bass player?
So many reasons!Actual bass players are rare. The good ones who like to play out are in high demand and often play with multiple bands. Getting one to commit to your project is very hard as a result.Why are gigging bassists rare? The bass is similar to the guitar but the technique and equipment are significantly different. These differences make the bass much harder for hobbyists to casually gig on.Bass amps have to drive big speakers that move a lot of air in order to project similar volume to a much smaller guitar amp. As a guitarist, I can get away with a 40 watt amp driving a 12” speaker for most gigs. A bassist needs AT LEAST 100 Watts driving a 15” speaker if the guitarist is willing to turn way down. Many bass rigs run 500 watts through two to ten speakers. That kind of rig costs a lot of money. Few are willing to pay for it. That results in very few bassists kitted to play out.The bass is not as forgiving of poor technique or rhythm as the guitar. Excellent bass technique requires training on all sorts of boring things like metronome work and muting the unsounded strings. This selects out the lazy in a way the guitar doesn’t seem to. This results in fewer bassists really skilled enough to play out.Finally, if you can’t find a bassist, look within. When a band starts, the usual pattern is a guitarist or singer wants to start a passion project. The genre they propose is very niche and their execution of it is mediocre. Plus, said guitarist/vocalist usually wants COMPLETE creative control and is not fun to work with. This describes about 98% of all dudes who start blues bands. Other genres may vary.So, if you can’t find a bassist you must consider the possibility that you are mediocre, passive-aggressive, fussy, or otherwise not fun to play with. These faults are correctable with work.
Chances of getting into Columbia...?
Alright, so I've got a weighted GPA of 4.7 and unweighted of 3.7. I'm number 16 or so in my class (Big class, though...like 900 some kids), but I plan to bump that up, or down. =D I'm in band, both marching and concert, and it seems to be my biggest passion and dedication in high school. I also hold a position of leadership in band. I'm in National Honor Society, and have volunteered at my local library because of it. I played golf for the first two years of high school, but I had to quit due to conflicts. Art is a big hobby of mine, but I haven't taken classes for it. I've taken AP both my Sophomore and Junior year. I've taken the SAT test with scores of Reading: 640, Math:710, and Writing:640 and the ACT test with a 29; Math:32, English:29. I am a white female and my family is low income. Well, according to them (Below 60,000 maybe 50,000) I'm going to take both the SAT and ACT 'cause I'm pretty certain I can do better as well as SAT subject tests, but what are my chances? Also, which two SAT subject test would be most beneficial for getting into Columbia University?
You have a band and one of your guitarists either quits or gets fired from the band. How realistic could it be to hire a bass guitarist to play guitar? If a bass player left your band could a guitar player play bass guitar well enough?
It would be much easier to have a guitar player cover on bass than have a bass player cover on guitar (though it depends on the musicians and the music).To play guitar in a band one would have to know the chords for the songs. A bass player doesn’t normally play chords and even if he sometimes plays bass chords on a four string instrument he isn’t necessarily going to know how to play the chords and voicings on a six string instrument. Unless the music were incredibly simple or he happened to already know the songs on guitar, it would likely be a disaster.On the other hand, going from guitar to bass is much easier. Presuming that the guitarist has a good ear and is adept at improvisation he can likely pick up the bass and play some simple bass parts for most of the songs without having ever played the song on bass, before. He probably wouldn’t do as good a job as a dedicated bassist because, while there are plenty of bands whose bass players never graduate beyond simple patterns, playing root notes, etc., a good bass player will be providing not just the low end but also an appropriate rhythm to, along with the drummer, form the primary rhythm section to shape the song, and a more complex counterpoint to the guitars, keyboards, etc.. But in a pinch a walking bass line based on root notes can get the job done and a decent guitarist can probably pull that off.
What is your worst experience with an orchestra or band teacher?
Worst experience… that’s hard. I’ve had mainly excellent experiences in orchestra, and my worst experience was not strictly speaking caused by a teacher.With that said, my worst orchestra experience was in an eighth-grade honors orchestra. We were conducted by a man who, despite being an excellent bass player, had little experience conducting youth orchestras. Because of this, he focused extensively on the lower strings and very little on the violins.We were also quite a bit under-rehearsed when the night of the final concert arrived. The piece was St. Paul’s Suite, an incredibly overplayed piece in youth orchestras, as many will know.At one point in the piece, the first stand of first violins was following the conductor. The second stand was a beat behind them. The third stand was a beat behind them. I was on the fourth stand - we had no idea what the hell was going on.I’m not going to talk about how the second violins were doing.We did eventually come to a squeaky, scratchy end. I could not look the concertmaster in the eye for a week.The above concertmaster, by the way, is now one of my best friends. When I mentioned this to her, she reminded me of our unofficial rule:We don’t talk about eighth grade honors orchestra.